Hot Commodities: How Anyone Can Invest Profitably in the World's Best Market

This is an engaging introduction to a topic that even many experienced investors find intimidating. In what may be a seminal report on the subject from the Yale School of Management's Center for International Finance, "Facts and Fantasies About Commodity Futures" [Gorton, Rouwenhorst: 2004] academia gives support to Jim Rogers' real world experience as a commodities investor. The conclusions: Returns on commodities have often been better on a risk adjusted basis than stocks and bonds. Commodities have historically done well when these more traditional investments have suffered and so offer investors seeking to diversify their portfolios a solid alternative. The greatest returns come from investing in commodity futures rather than stocks of companies that produce those same commodities. Notably, commodities have performed well during periods of inflation.Rogers believes the current bull market in commodities began in 1998 and based on precedent should run 17-18 years until 2015. At the heart of the commodity cycle is a supply-demand dynamic that impacts many natural assets differently. Rogers gives readers an introduction to the pricing drivers for oil, gold, sugar, lead and coffee.Chapter 5 deals with the voracious demand for commodities coming out of China. Chapter 6 "Goodbye, Cheap Oil" looks at the world supply of oil and alternative sources of energy. Both chapters have the potential to alter the reader's investment perspective.Some takeaway nuggets: China is consuming half the world's cement. No major oil field has been discovered in thirty-five years. The U.S. foreign trade imbalance is growing by a trillion dollars every two years. Asians save almost 40 percent of their income (versus 2 percent in the U.S.).Readers of HOT COMMODITIES will not likely gain the confidence needed to invest in sugar futures, etc. They will have a better appreciation for including commodities in a well diversified portfolio. Unfortunately there are few mutual funds that focus on commodities. What is still needed in this reader's opinion is an ETF (exchange traded fund) that tracks a broad-based commodity index.

If you are a contrarian and long-term investor then this is a great guide for the commodities markets. Perhaps the biggest myth about commodities investing is that it has to be very risky. This misconception generally stems from traders being overleveraged (can require as little as 5% margin). Some commodities are also quite sensitive to factors such as weather and political developments. You need to know your market, buy cheap/sell high and not be overleveraged. A Yale study has shown that commodity returns are less volatile than S&P 500 returns in the past six decades. Again, I think leverage is the huge culprit.The major asset of this book is learning how Rogers approaches his analysis process, which essentially deals with the most fundamental law of economics: supply/demand. The factors affecting each commodity can be subjective although production and global demand (especially China) are the main forces. Historical prices and inflation also play a role.Roger's provides an interesting analysis of China and it's influence on global demand. He describes his bullishness on lead, sugar and coffee. To a smaller extent he also likes crude oil and gold. Considering this book was written before the major oil and gold run-up I doubt he would be as bullish on these two commodities now. This also extends to other commodities.

The world-renowned "Adventure Capitalist" Jim Rogers takes the reader through a real adventure in this book. An excellent introduction to the world of commodity investing, most readers will find a plethora of useful and interesting information. A nice bonus is the handy appendix listing brief descriptions of commodities and commodity indexes. It makes the book worth keeping as a reference.Rogers does an excellent job presenting his reasons for a commodity bull market in the upcoming years and he presents various ways to profit from it - everything from picking the right stocks to investing in the commodities futures markets. He earns credibility by basing statements on his own observations as a commodity trader, unlike other books that use some egghead's mathematical projections as a premise.The later chapters go into detail over the most popular commodities (i.e. oil, gold, sugar, coffee). Here he presents interesting historical information and explains what factors drive the prices of these items. He also discusses the most recent news affecting supply and demand. After finishing those brief chapters, it definitely leaves the reader hungry for more on other commodities.Investor beware! While Jim does make a convincing case for a commodity bull market, do not be too hasty in making a move. I feel at times he is overly optimistic, especially when he touts his own Rogers Commodity Index fund. He also downplays the dangers involved in the volatile futures markets.Despite these cautions, Hot Commodities is an excellent read for staying informed of today's changing global market conditions. I recommend it to all investors.

Livro excelente para entender a base do mundo das commodities.

Guide - 1 chapter on guide, rest are examples using it. Can be more informative, as which news outlets are best and where do you look. Jim seems to know a lot about the supply and demand, these aren’t shared on the news outlets. You can get them from the book he recommends annually however surely we can get a close estimate for free online ? - seems that the news outlets only share vague explanations of increases/decrease in supply/demand

I'm writting my review in english since i don't think there are many readers outside US that would read Jim Rogers (Not because he's a bad writer, but because he's not well known outside US) and people buying this book won't read it in spanish or any other language for that matter. This book is AMAZING, the perspective provided by Jim is new, specially for people outside the finance world. If you're looking for investment opportunities, this is not the book for you. In this book Jim gives you the tools for analyzing the worlds commodity market in terms of supply and demand (among other factors) so you can understand how to invest in them. Despite not being in a commodity bull market you can learn a lot about the international commodity trades and how they impact us in daily bases. And also spot opportunities in stocks, bonds or commodities by understanding the market. I would say this is a MUST read for everyone interested or inside the finance world. It does not only teach you about how commodities work, but also an understanding on how they can be the safest investment (OVER THE STOCK MARKET, BIG TIME) and the reasons described are quite difficult to argue.

Muy bueno y ameno. Imprescindible para el momento en el que estamos para invertir en materias primas

This is a must read for everyone who wants to understand how market determines price of the product and how knowledge can help you understand this. Very basic understanding and lots of common sense is enough to build a living for yourself. Book clearly says that remain far away from difficult financial models and stay closer to ground reality and we can see that how big shots could not even build a suitable index.